"Well, more of a squat, but yes, it dost," Tripp said with trepidation.

"Swept along by air thermals an' sustained with bugs trapped in the current I've been far an' wide to give ye this!" The blindfolded envoy pulled out a scroll of parchment. "Yer great-grandpa's map leadn' to Isla Heart; the poor man's Garden o' Eden! Thar ye'll find the gift that keeps on givin' -- the ensorceled basket an' jar!" With that the nocturnal animal contorted through the sad doorway, wings flapping wildly in a blur to hook the door shut behind both tight and well.

The big-eared mouse considered the best offer she knew she'd ever get. She broke the wax seal securing the weathered cartograph to unroll a drawing of a cockleshell-shaped island with an X marking the center. Around the edges were rhymes and riddles. The first one was this: